Saturday, September 30, 2006

Well, technically we are somebody's kids. The 4 adults (I use the term loosely) actually got out together without any kids. We had a great time at Morton's Boston while my mom watched 4/6ths of the kids. Of course, we were all yawning by 10:00, not exactly party animals.

Friday, September 29, 2006

It's a good feeling to be a part of something larger than yourself. I should know, for if it weren't for me, these two crazies wouldn't have found each other. Okay, I'm giving myself WAY too much credit. But what's wrong with a little unwarranted glory every now and then?

Don't you love me for selecting a picture from 1995?

Okay, here we are on the big day - 5 years ago today!

Here is 1995 again. Hey, I think this is the only picture of you guys without kids hanging off of you!

Hey remember your first date - at that restaurant in Boston (Shaun's friend owned it). I was totally the third wheel. How about tonight Jerms and I are crashing your big date again!! It's kind of like old times!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Video Stores: So I've recently come to realize that video stores are not family friendly. My kids are 7, 5, & almost 1, I have no idea why it took me so long to figure this out, I guess I'm a slow learner. This revelation hit me as our family innocently walked the new release isle looking for some good family movies to rent. I turned around and saw my son staring at a video cover of a very mean looking Santa Claus wielding a bloody knife. I quickly grabbed him with my hands over his eyes and pulled him away while hollering for Amelle to come with us. I was rushing frantically, as if THE WORLD was about to molest my children. I looked around and saw things that were never apparent to me before - DVD covers with women kissing other women, scary murderer types with chainsaws and other murder-weapons, mostly-naked women seductively posed, foul named movies, ghetto gangsters embracing dollar bills.. ....all the things that I am trying to sheild my children from in one place. I was mortified. It's amazing, the things about our society that I am trying to protect my children from are the very things that are being shamelessly promoted. Jesus come quickly!

Aunt isn't a three letter word: I can't understand why people call aunts "ants". An aunt is one thing (a female family member) and an ant is something entirely different (a small, hardworking insect). Where is the confusion? Sound it out!

Not a day goes by that I'm not thankful that we cut Amelle's hair. Life is good! I stumbled across this picture of Amelle "pre-haircut" - she had been walking around with one of Amaya's pacifiers in her hair and she didn't even know it. I guess when you accidently and unknowingly carry objects around in your hair, it's time to get a trim!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Eating this cream cheese slathered bagel was one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen my husband do. He actually ordered it this way – a plain bagel toasted with extra cream cheese. Eeewww! Really, there is enough cream cheese on that thing to feed a small African village. Jermaine actually ended up stronger as a result of repeatedly lifting it to his mouth.

Raise your hand if this breaded cream cheese concoction grosses you out – and know that it was worse in real life.

Monday, September 18, 2006

This weekend we travelled back to Philly to attend Kristy & John's wedding. I was honored to be the matron of honor (gosh, that makes me sound old - the word matron needs to be changed) ..how about "head bridal slave") ..you know, the one that is bent over all day adjusting the train. ..that was me.

It was a beautiful ceremony on the Moshulu in Philadelphia. The weather was absolutely perfect - what a great night to spend on a beautiful ship! Jermaine and I got to catch up with some friends as well as make new ones. Kristy and John have such a fun family! Oh my - they are like a party waiting to happen. They are all great and they have this incredible way of making you feel like your part of the family, even if you've only just met them. It was such a good time!

They're off to Hawaii now for two weeks! Congratulations Mr & Mrs Quinn!!!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

This is an excerpt from an e-mail that Jermaine sent to his co-workers (who, by the way, have never seen him because they are all home-based and scattered all over the country). God help me!

Much to my chagrin (but to my wife's delight), I had to get a haircut in preparation for my TalentWave headshot (I also have a wedding to go to on Saturday). My plan to look like a full blown "mountain man" by December has been put on hold. But you can't keep a good man down, team! I vow to continue my quest to not shave or get a haircut until I am forced to do so by the local authorities because I am scaring the local children.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

There are some things in life that you don't want to do, but you bite the bullet and do them anyway. Laundry, spring cleaning, going to a lame wildlife sanctuary with your best friend...etc.

Wendy has this crazy bleeding heart for animals. Not just regular animals like dogs, cats, elephants, cows...she likes the lowly ones like mice, turtles, frogs, etc. It's borderline insane, if you ask me. I once saw her beep at a cat as we drove by - she said it was to warn it - so that it wouldn't run into the street, but I think she was just saying "hi" to it. I think she's like the Jane Goodall of creepy little pests and rodents.

So it goes without saying that she's in with the local wildlife santuary, which actually only takes in varmits. (I'm laughing right now - is "varmit" a word?!) She's "rescued" several of these creatures and brings them over to this sanctuary (birds that have fallen out of their nests, turtles, last week it was some baby mice that they found in their yard, etc).

Today this place had an open house, and I REALLY didn't want to go, but figured that Wendy would appreciate it if I did, and the kids might have fun. So we go to this rickety little place and there are a million people there. Real Mainers - the granola ones. These people came out of the woodworks to look at birds and mice and frogs - I really didn't get the fascination. These aren't exotic creatures - they're the kind you find in your backyard. If the lawnmower should strike one down, no real loss.

The only thing I had in common with these people was that no one wore make-up. Not only did I not like these creatures, but I have personally ordered the execution of dozens of them. Those very creatures that they had built a refuge for, I have plotted and schemed against. I had Jerms fill our house with mouse traps last year and had ordered him to kill any snake on our property. The death toll is definitely in the double digits. I was uneasy, knowing that if these people knew my dark past, I would've been thrown in a cage and feed to the mice.

Here my dear friend and our five children wait in line to see something. They didn't know what was in this house, but they figured that if there was a line, it must be good.

Here is the most interesting thing I saw all day. The back of this man's shirt was repulsive to me. Why would anyone wear that? (if you can't read it, it say's "tough sh*t" and has a picture of a dog straining to make a poop)

Apparently the same crowd that fancies small rodents and birds also likes multi-ethnic children. People were lovin' my kids up today. Men and women alike - making goo goo faces at Amaya as they passed by. See this lady, showing the kids how to make rope from raffia - notice how she's all into Avery...it's reverse racism up here.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

I've always said that the blog is a painful gauge of my life - obviously I've been busy lately with my new gig. However, not too busy to make a few observations.

Portland is crazy - I think it's like Seattle. No, I've never been to Seattle, but it's what I envision Seattle to be like. The people are kind of grungy and earthy looking, they seem to love things that are "organic", and they ride their bikes to work in order to preserve our natural resources.

In Portland, businessmen wear baseball caps with their suits, women don't wear stockings (even with business suits on), and streetpeople wear fur coats and talk on cell phones. In Portland, pedestrians are free to dart out in front of traffic because as long as your in a crosswalk, no one will run you over.

Lately I've seen more "street people" than I am accostomed to seeing. Some thoughts: 1) If I were going to be homeless, Portland, Maine would be one of the last places that I'd live. Sure the summers are nice, but let's face it, the other 50 weeks of the year are COLD, and the winters are down right brutal. If I were going to be homeless, I'd definitely start walking South and I wouldn't stop until I arrived someplace that was warm in January. 2) How come homeless people always seem to be smoking? How can they be so broke that they can't afford basic shelter, but they can spend $5 a day on cigarettes? I don't understand this?

Sunday, September 03, 2006

This weekend we were blessed by a visit from our friends Pastor Richard and his wife Ellen. When we moved away Richard and Ellen told us that they'd come visit us on Labor day weekend. True to their word, they rang our doorbell on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon.

It's so great to spend time with friends from "home". Kind of takes the entertaining out of entertaining...people who are just happy to be around you and who you're happy to be around without having to do anything special. Of course we took them to our spot (ever seen this lighthouse before?!)

Richard, Ellen, Jermaine & Amaya get close to the water while Avery and Amelle busy themselves on the rocks.

Lunch by the sea.

Richard takes Avery's ATV for a spin. I don't think he enjoyed that much - do you!! :-) ..he also took Jermaine's John Deere for a spin - more like a two hour tour of the entire yard. He then tried to convince me that mowing the lawn with the JD is a workout because it doesn't have much in the way of shocks or power steering. ...I don't know if I'm buying that - It's no push mower, and if it were that much of a workout, I doubt my husband would look forward to it so much!

Here's an "Amelle-ism" from this weekend: Amelle sat next to Ellen at church. The communion crackers came around and Amelle said, "Are you going to eat that?", Ellen replied, "Yes". Then Amelle said, "I know your going to drink something too", and Ellen said, "Yes I am". Then silence. "Your going to have to put more lipstick on".